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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. spring — of water
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wake — a trail
  12. spring — the season
  13. kid — to tease
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. kid — child
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. spring — a coil
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. content — happy
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com